Over 50’s back auto-enrolment in clinical trials tackling long-term health conditions
London: New YouGov polling commissioned by clinical trials startup Lindus Health has found that almost 70% of over 50s would support automatically enrolling patients with long term health conditions in clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of new treatments.
Under the proposal put to over 2000 UK adults, enrolment would occur at the point of diagnosis, with patients given the right to ‘opt-out’ of trial participation.
The initiative would see patients diagnosed with long-term health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, arthritis and autoimmune disorders enrolled automatically in clinical trials for new treatments to treat their respective conditions, with the aim of increasing trial participation to match the pace at which new treatments are being developed – the increased participation could subsequently increase the likelihood of beneficial treatments being identified.
Polling found 69% support among 50–64-year-olds and 68% of over 65s, with fewer than 20% expressing opposition. Support was also high amongst 25–49-year-olds, of whom 61% expressed support, with the lowest support (52%) amongst 18–24-year-olds. Support for the concept was also consistent across all geographic regions in the UK, with London the only region where support fell below 60%
The results follow the Government’s announcement in June of a new scheme – Experimental Medicine Route To Success or ‘Experts-ALS’ – that will take patients at the point of their diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and offer them the opportunity to take one of three drugs being tested to treat the condition. The scheme has been launched to increase participation in trials that “will enable faster progress towards treatments” by backing cutting-edge research.
Commenting on the polling, Michael Young, CEO of Lindus Health said:
“The UK drug development industry has made encouraging progress in identifying trial treatments for long-term health conditions, but without increasing participation in trials, new drug development is at risk of being wasted. With this in mind, it’s great to see such overwhelming support amongst the British public for innovative solutions to increase trial participation.
“It’s important patients have a choice whether to take part in a trial, but with the success of schemes such as the Government’s ‘Expert-ALS’, we will hopefully see the idea of automatic enrolment expand, and in turn help drug development successfully produce new treatments.”
